Strops

[capacious]

Does anyone know of any really good strops? Axminster have stopped selling the one I wanted to buy

Thanks,

Jake.

 

[Bardster]

Does anyone know of any really good strops? Axminster have stopped selling the one I wanted to buy

Thanks,

Jake.

which one was it - the starkie? I can send you a piece of leather the same size if you want.

Bard

 

[capacious]

It was a small one that cost something like £2.84, and it was only a couple of quid for the paste. I was rather looking forward to my bargain

I've heard that rawhide is the best for strops, or is that just BS?

Thanks,

Jake.

 

[C_Claycomb]

You know that you can strop on heavy card board? With and without paste. It isn't as hard wearing as leather, but it is cheap!

Just about any bit of leather will do, you don't need to go buying one that is marketed as a strop. It can be hard as wood, or soft and fuzzy. Do some searches for Birch Polypore fungus aka razor strop fungus. It is very common and fairly easy to process into a strop.

Some people use Autosol polish on their strops too.

 

[happy camper]

hello, i use a strip of leather glued to a piece of straight, flat wood and it works a treat, i've got leather glued on both sides of the board, one side is the suede out and one side is the smooth side out, if that makes sense, i only put polishing compound on the suede side and use the smooth side on its own. I don't think it matters too much what kind of leather you use, i've seen lots of threads saying an old charity shop leather belt is as good as anything.
hope that helps

 

[addyb]

Wow, you mean you can actually buy strops? I just use a leather belt, it works for me. Do actual stops make a difference on a blade?

Adam

 

[Ogri the trog]

..... i've seen lots of threads saying an old charity shop leather belt is as good as anything.
hope that helps

Probably better than most, as it'll be dirt cheap - never mind your Axminster bargain

Ogri the trog

 

[Damascus]

I agree with happy camper, I have been using a cheap leather belt stuck to a flat peice of wood for years. If you need a quick strop on a knife blade and give a wonderful edge, roll up a daily newspaper and strop away and it makes good tinder too.

 

[Shing]

Don't forget to put a very fine abrasive on the leather, good stuff includes polishing soap, very fine valve grinding paste or very fine diamond powder. I like a razor edge on all my wood working tools like planes, chisels and gouges and a strop puts a polished razor edge after the extra fine diamond stone.

 

[martin]

Take the belt out of your trousers and use that. It ain't rocket science and it works.

 

[Longstrider]

My strops are just a piece of soft-ish leather Evo-Sticked down to a length of MDF about 2" wide and a foot or so long. One I load with Autosol Chrome Polish (for the initial stropping) and the other I load with Jewellers Rouge for the final finish. They tend to become a little clogged after some use, but a good scrape with a piece of metal edge on soon removes any build up of paste residue etc and leaves them ready for reloading with compound again.
Strops can be a little messy, and are vulnerable to picking up dirt and grit when not in use, so I keep mine wrapped in cling film between sharpening sessions.